Hearn shared their disbelief and will now call upon the sanctioning body to grant Smith mandatory challenger status.

"First of all, it was a great fight, Arthur is a great champion and thank-you to him and Kalle (Sauerland) for giving us this opportunity," Hearn said.

"The response from everybody says it all. It was a close fight. When I got in the ring I felt and expected Arthur to get a decision, to be honest.

"But the way that the judges scored that fight is disgusting."

Hearn read out a passionate message from Carl Froch who was angered that Smith was not awarded the win.

Hearn added: "Scoring is subjective and if Arthur had won it 115-114 then you take it on the chin.

"But 119-109 is just not right in the sport of boxing.

"We will be appealing to the WBO, not for an immediate rematch because we don't think that possible because we know how the system works.

"But because we feel Paul Smith should be installed as the immediate mandatory for Arthur Abraham. He hasn't had a mandatory for a while. I'm sure we'll have some competition but we'd love to do the fight again.

"It was a very, very close fight whichever way you look at it. And there are now 30-40,000 Scousers who would come out and watch that fight."

Hearn concluded: "In the record books he will not get the respect he deserves for the closeness of this fight."

Hopes of an immediate rematch were boosted, however, when Abraham told Smith: "I'll fight you again whenever you want."